The long term goal of this proposal is i). to develop novel poly(amino acid)s with well defined molecular architecture that can be used for drug or gene delivery and for tissue engineering and ii). to develop a surface modified with monolayer of poly(beta-amino acid) with specific control of the conformation and side chain spacings. Such spatially organized surfaces have potential application in biorecognition and biosensor technology. beta-amino amino acids are the key components of the proposed polymers. beta-peptides have low toxicity, resistance to enzymatic degradation, and conformational stability. Currently, there are no controlled polymerization methods for the synthesis of poly(beta- amino acid)s or poly(alpha-amino acids-co-beta-amino acid)s. We propose herin: i) fundamental studies of controlled ring-opening polymerization of N-carboxy-beta-amino acid anhydrides initiated by an organonickel catalyst ii) investigation of the versatility of the polymerization method for block and statistical copolymer with alpha-amino acids, and iii) synthesis of stable helical poly(beta-amino acid)s and characterization of their conformational stability, and their organization at the air-water interface.